Jacob Barrett

Global Priorities Institute jacob.barrett@philosophy.ox.ac.uk

Faculty of Philosophy www.jacobbarrett.org
University of Oxford

AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION Social and Political Philosophy

Normative Ethics
Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE)

AREAS OF COMPETENCE History of Moral and Political Philosophy

Applied Ethics
Metaethics
Philosophy of Law

EMPLOYMENT
University of Oxford (2020 - )
Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Philosophy, Global Priorities Institute, Faculty of Philosophy
Non-Stipendiary Research Fellow in Politics, Nuffield College

EDUCATION
Ph.D. Philosophy, University of Arizona (2020)
Dissertation Social Ideals and Social Reform
Committee Gerald Gaus (chair), Allen Buchanan, Thomas Christiano, Connie Rosati,
David Schmidtz
B.A. (Honours), with Distinction, Philosophy, Queen’s University (2013)

PUBLICATIONS
Journal Articles
“Subjectivism and Degrees of Well-Being,” Utilitas (forthcoming).
“Optimism about Moral Responsibility,” Philosophers’ Imprint 20 (2020): 1-17.
“Punishment and Disagreement in the State of Nature,” Economics and Philosophy 36 (2020): 334-354.
“Efficient Inequalities,” Journal of Political Philosophy 28 (2020): 181-198.
“Social Reform in a Complex World,” Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy 17 (2020): 103-132.
“Is Maximin Egalitarian?” Synthese 197 (2020): 817-837.
“Interpersonal Comparisons with Preferences and Desires,” Politics, Philosophy & Economics 18 (2019):
219-241.

Book Chapters
“Laws, Norms, and Public Justification: The Limits of Law as an Instrument of Reform” (with
Gerald F. Gaus), in S. A. Langvatn, M. Kumm, & W. Sadurski (Eds.), Public Reason and Courts.
Cambridge University Press (2020), 201-228.

Book Reviews
Review of David Estlund, Utopophobia: On The Limits (if Any) of Political Philosophy, Mind (forthcoming).
Review of Kevin Vallier, Must Politics be War?: Restoring our Trust in the Open Society, Journal of Moral
Philosophy 17 (2020): 567-570.
UNDER REVIEW
“Social Experimentation in an Unjust World” (with Allen Buchanan)
accepted at the 9th Annual Workshop for Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy, implying
publication subject to further review in Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy
paper on ideal theory and comparative evaluations of justice
paper on ideology and collective action
paper on ethical veganism (with Sarah Raskoff)
paper on moral uncertainty and public reason liberalism (with Andreas T Schmidt)
Essays on Longtermism (edited volume with Hilary Greaves and David Thorstad)

SELECTED FELLOWSHIPS AND AWARDS

William H. Fink Prize for Overall Outstanding Graduate Student, 2020
Social Philosophy & Policy Research Assistant Fellowship, 2019-2020
Joel Feinberg Dissertation Fellowship, 2018-2019
Templeton Research Assistant Fellowship, 2015-2016, 2016-2017
Graduate College Fellowship, 2013-2014

SELECTED PRESENTATIONS
“Ideology Critique and Game Theory” (scheduled)
American Philosophical Association: Central Division, Chicago, IL, 2022 (symposium)
Politics, Philosophy, and Economics Society Conference, New Orleans, LA, 2022
“Social Experimentation in an Unjust World” (scheduled)
9th Annual Workshop for Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy, Tucson, AZ, 2021
“Ethical Veganism and Free Riding”
Centre for the Study of Social Justice, University of Oxford, 2021
DaGERS Ethics Reading Group, University of California, Davis, 2020
“Institutional Selection”
5th Oxford Workshop on Global Priorities Research, University of Oxford, 2020
“Efficient Egalitarianism”/ “The Equal Consideration of Interests”
Department of Philosophy, Brown University, 2021
Department of Philosophy, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2020
Department of Politics, New York University, 2020
Politics, Philosophy, and Economics Society Conference, New Orleans, LA, 2019
“Social Reform in a Complex World”
Department of Philosophy, University of Sheffield, 2020
Department of Political Science, University of Amsterdam, 2019
Southern Journal of Philosophy Workshop, University of Memphis, 2019
Politics, Philosophy, and Economics Society Conference, New Orleans, LA, 2018
“Interpersonal Comparisons with Preferences and Desires”
Politics, Philosophy, and Economics Society Conference, New Orleans, LA, 2017
Comment on David Wiens’s, “Against Ideal Guidance”
Workshop on David Wiens, University of Arizona, 2016
Comment on Anness Webster’s, “Terror, Tactics, and Preferences”
American Philosophical Association: Pacific Division, San Francisco, CA, 2016
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
University of Arizona
Instructor
The Social Contract (Fall 2018)
Contemporary Moral Problems (Spring 2018)
Neuroethics (Fall 2017)
History of Moral and Political Philosophy (Summer 2017)
Law and Morality (Fall 2016, Summer 2016)

Teaching Assistant
Personal Morality (Sartorio, Fall 2015)
The Ethics and Economics of Wealth Creation (Wall, Spring 2015)
Philosophical Perspectives on the Individual (Weinberg, Fall 2014)
Logic and Critical Thinking (Weinberg, Fall 2013)

SERVICE
Referee: American Political Science Review; Australasian Journal of Philosophy; Economics and Philosophy;
Economics & Politics; Ethical Perspectives; Journal of Philosophical Research; Journal of Political Philosophy; The
Journal of Value Inquiry; Legal Theory; Philosophy Compass; Political Research Quarterly; Political Studies;
Politics, Philosophy & Economics; Public Affairs Quarterly; Social Philosophy & Policy; Social Theory and
Practice; Southwest Philosophy Review; Synthese; Theoria; Canadian Philosophical Association
Organized reading/research groups on Institutions and Longtermism, Institutions and Global
Priorities Research, and The Neglectedness Heuristic, University of Oxford, 2020-2021
Organized Annual Reading Group on History of Moral and Political Philosophy (Sidgwick, Kant,
Hume, Dewey, History of Feminism, The Federalist Papers), University of Arizona, 2015-2020
Editorial Assistant, Social Philosophy & Policy, 2015-2017, 2019-2020
Climate Committee Member, Philosophy Department, University of Arizona, 2018-2019
Graduate Student Representative, Philosophy Department, University of Arizona, 2015-2016

REFERENCES
Gerald Gaus Allen Buchanan
James E. Rogers Professor of Philosophy James B. Duke Professor Emeritus of Philosophy
University of Arizona Duke University
skimball@email.arizona.edu allenb@duke.edu

Thomas Christiano Connie Rosati

Professor of Philosophy Professor of Philosophy
University of Arizona University of Texas at Austin
thomasc@email.arizona.edu connierosati@gmail.com

David Schmidtz Christopher Maloney (teaching reference)

Kendrick Professor of Philosophy Professor of Philosophy
University of Arizona University of Arizona
schmidtz@email.arizona.edu maloney@email.arizona.edu